1.7 Following Cross-References

In Info documentation, you will see many cross references.
Cross references look like this: See Cross. That text
is a real, live cross reference, whose name is ‘Cross’ and which
points to the node named ‘Help-Cross’. (The node name is hidden
in Emacs. Do M-x visible-mode to show or hide it.)

You can follow a cross reference by moving the cursor to it and
press RET, just as in a menu. In Emacs, you can also click
Mouse-1 on a cross reference to follow it; you can see that the
cross reference is mouse-sensitive by moving the mouse pointer to the
reference and watching how the underlying text and the mouse pointer
change in response.

Another way to follow a cross reference is to type f and then
specify the name of the cross reference (in this case, ‘Cross’)
as an argument. For this command, it does not matter where the cursor
was. If the cursor is on or near a cross reference, f suggests
that reference name in parentheses as the default; typing RET
will follow that reference. However, if you type a different
reference name, f will follow the other reference which has that
name.

>> Type f, followed by Cross, and then RET.

As you enter the reference name, you can use the DEL (or
BACKSPACE) key to edit your input. If you change your mind
about following any reference, you can use Control-g to cancel
the command. Completion is available in the f command; you can
complete among all the cross reference names in the current node by
typing a TAB.

To get a list of all the cross references in the current node, you
can type ? after an f. The f continues to await a
cross reference name even after displaying the list, so if you don’t
actually want to follow a reference, you should type a Control-g
to cancel the f.

>> Type f? to get a list of the cross references in this node. Then
type a Control-g and see how the ‘f’ gives up.

The TAB, M-TAB and S-TAB keys,
which move between menu items in a menu, also move between cross
references outside of menus.

Sometimes a cross reference (or a node) can lead to another file (in
other words another “manual”), or, on occasion, even a file on a
remote machine (although Info files distributed with Emacs or the
stand-alone Info avoid using remote links). Such a cross reference
looks like this: See Overview of Texinfo in Texinfo:
The GNU Documentation Format. (After following this link, type
l to get back to this node.) Here the name ‘texinfo’
between parentheses refers to the file name. This file name appears
in cross references and node names if it differs from the current
file, so you can always know that you are going to be switching to
another manual and which one.

However, Emacs normally hides some other text in cross-references.
If you put your mouse over the cross reference, then the information
appearing in a separate box (tool tip) or in the echo area will show
the full cross-reference including the file name and the node name of
the cross reference. If you have a mouse, just leave it over the
cross reference See Overview of Texinfo in Texinfo:
The GNU Documentation Format, and watch what happens. If you
always like to have that information visible without having to move
your mouse over the cross reference, use M-x visible-mode, or
set Info-hide-note-references to a value other than t
(see Emacs Info Variables).